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is displayed in Mr. Churchill's zeal for economy at the Treasury, and he is implored to bring this glaring example of departmental extravagance to a speedy end. The production of the scheme at this juncture is undoubtedly regarded as an attempt to steal a march on the Central Welsh Board, some of whose members do not hesitate to describe it as an attempt to renew the old dual inspection of secondary schools and to secure the supersession of the Central Welsh Board. The circular undoubtedly indicates pretty plainly that the Board's inspectors will, in future, go into secondary schools for purposes far more serious than that of checking of registers, &c., and that, therefore, there does seem some possibility of friction between the officers of the two Boards. The results of such friction would be deplorable alike to the prestige of both inspectorates and to the well-being of the children. Triennial inspections are good things when kept within reasonable bounds, but they are a strain on staff and pupils alike, and the prospect of a double dose by different bodies of people with different points of view, and with no co-ordinating

authority, seems to indicate the coming of a distracting

time for the staffs of secondary schools.

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spectorate must be regarded as a serious blemish, especially in view of the fact that domestic subjects and needlework must continue to play an increasingly important part in second

Some Serious

Omissions. ary school education, in the training of female teachers, and in the elementary schools. Possibly the Board means to appoint a woman to one of the assistant inspectorships. The two subjects referred to have been hopelessly neglected in Welsh secondary school education in the last twenty years. The Central Welsh Board was never sufficiently well financed to really secure the inspection of these branches of work in its secondary schools. What of the work in infants' schools? Here a woman inspector is the only person who can really get into touch with the teachers. There are matters on which a male inspector's advice is not sought. Rural authorities are still behindhand in their provision for domestic subjects, largely because of the still very strong and definite prejudice of a section of the public against such provision, based on a belief that "frills" only are taught and that what's good enough for the mother is good enough for the girl. If the Board were to concentrate for five years on infant work, its trouble would be amply repaid. The average male head knows very little of what ought to be done in an infant school. Wales, the "Land of Song," the home of the National Council of Music, has no specialist Inspector of Music to itself!

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of the various approved second examinations: in Wales they are awarded on the result of a special examination held by the University. Welsh applicants are therefore submitted to an intolerable double strain of two examinations, of the standard of the second examination coming, within a short period of time of one another. No one understands why this should be necessary, for the C.W.B. states that an arrangement could be come to which would do away with the necessity for the double examination and be fair as between intermediate and non-intermediate schools. But Wales seems to love educational feats of endurance-as witness its B.D. examination, which is as much a test of physical endurance as of mental capacity and theological knowledge ! In Glamorgan, State scholarships have been won by pupils twenty or thirty places lower down the list of Central Welsh Board Higher successes than others who have not been awarded such scholarships.

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Over

Pressure.

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Schools in January, 1923, on over pressure." A questionnaire sent out to

238 secondary schools elicited the fact that 30 per cent of the schools complain definitely of over pressure." There are some who maintain that as a training in intensive study and concentration this pressure at or about the matriculation year has its advantages. But it is not easy to estimate the point at which further loading will result in satiety and hatred of the subjects of study. Factors tending to bring about this over pressure are the standards and requirements of examining bodies, the zeal of enthusiastic specialist inspectors, time spent in travelling to and from school, overcrowded syllabuses and a too hazy conception of

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what we are after," and lastly advanced courses. The results are often superficiality: the boy of moderate abilities is subjected to a pressure and a test which discourage him: health and the development of the social faculties suffer. The Chief Inspector of the Board says: The first consideration is physical health.. A decision should be made as to which subjects should • be placed in a principal category and which are to be studied only to such an extent as to avoid crass ignorance of the branches of knowledge concerned."

ITALY has the unique distinction of having appointed

two philosophers-Croce and his disciple Gentileas successive Ministers of Education. In this country, we are inclined to look upon the Board of Education as a home for lost politicians, or as a resting-place for

Philosophy of Centile.

political birds of passage, rather than as an academy for philosophers. Dr. Nunn recently gave an interesting lecture to the Child Study Society on "The Educational Philosophy of Gentile" in which he said many true things-for example, that you cannot sunder discipline from education-you cannot first secure order and then teach. Gentile opposed the powerful movement in Italy, inspired by Comte and Herbert Spencer, to base

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education on science. He believed that the business of education is humanism.

THE problem of left-handedness has always been of interest to teachers, and has been investigated in an amateur way-for example, by Dr. Lyttelton, when headmaster of Eton. Interference with Left-handed this natural habit has been discouraged Children. on the ground that it may give rise to stammering. Dr. W. S. Inman has established a relation between left-handedness, squint, and stammering. These three, he finds, go together in a family stock. Squint and stammer are related to emotional conditions, and are induced by fear. But left-handedness is a sign of revolt, of resistance to authority. In other words, conditions which may produce squint or stammer in one child, may produce left-handedness in another. Working in another direction, an apparent relation has been discovered between left-handedness and liability to tuberculosis; and squint is two or three times as common in consumptives as in the general population. We are slowly beginning to realize the close connexion between mind and body.

Adult Education

in Italy.

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THE World Association for Adult Education presents in its twenty-second Bulletin a valuable study of the present position of adult education in Italy. As there are hundreds of thousands of adults and adolescents in the country who can neither read nor write, it is not surprising that there is at present no supply and no demand for adult education as such. In 1921 a number of societies, acting with the co-operation of the Government, formed a federation bearing the name Opera Contra l'Analphabetismo." One of the most active of its branches is that concerned with the ignorant, diseaseridden south; it holds its schools in farm-houses, and the farmer desiring a school offers two rooms in his house, one for a school-room and one as a living and sleeping room for the teacher. The Association provides the equipment, furnishes the books and pays the teacher's salary. The teacher is paid according to the number of lessons he gives. The Bulletin gives other interesting accounts of work in special areas, of various great schools

at Rome, Turin, Modena, Florence, and Milan, and of the Popular University. Of these schools there are now sixty-one, some of which deal with the middle classes on week-days and the working men on Sundays. The Popular University, in collaboration with the Federation | of People's Libraries, publishes text-books and distributes these free to students who have attended lectures regularly. There is much evidence in the Bulletin of the awakening of an intellectual spirit, and of considerable effort to remedy the national deficiencies in hygiene

and education.

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on the other hand, shows that the National Adult School Union understands how to solve the problem of giving to the youth and the young man study-lessons based on the Bible that are full of intellectual and spiritual stimulus. A number of topics are chosen, and on each of these a series of lessons is constructed. The material for the lessons is found primarily in the Bible, but other readings are recommended which tend to enlarge the view of the student. Schoolmasters who have to deliver school sermons or addresses will here find many valuable suggestions, and the lessons of "The Search" might well form, for upper forms, a course in Scripture that would attract pupils and give them an interest that would not be likely to pass with the termination of school life.

D

URING the past month or two eminent representatives of different churches have commented on the difficulty of influencing the rising generation, owing to the large increase in the facilities offered for amusements of a light nature. It is, of course, perfectly

The National Home-Reading Union.

natural that clergymen and ministers

should regard diminished attendance at church and Sunday school as an unmitigated sign of decadence. Yet perhaps the inference is something of an "idol of the cave.' We suppose, for example, that even the cinema and the cheap theatre are by no means all to the bad. At any rate, there is obviously less loafing and horseplay than there were a generation ago. Still, there is quite enough truth in the allegation to cause some anxiety, and to incite all providers of more serious influences to redouble their efforts. We think, for example, that much more use could probably be made locally of the National Home-Reading Union, with its organ, The Home-Reading Magazine. With such assistance it should be quite easy to encourage and direct intelligent boys and girls who have left school, so that their spare time shall not be entirely devoted to the light and trivial, and so that the influence of the school shall not be allowed suddenly to cease. We think much might be done if teachers would acquaint themselves more generally with the work of the excellent society we have referred to, and would make it known to parents, as well as to elder scholars.

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Department is behind it. Scots people who want a summary account of the laws and regulations under which their schools are conducted, and outsiders who want an idea of the working of Scottish educational institutions, can therefore rely on the information given in this little book. Its sub-title is "A Brief Survey of Educational Organization and a Guide to Sources of Further Information," and the promise of the sub-title is fulfilled. Concisely and clearly, with chapter and verse references to official publications, an account is given of Scottish administrative bodies and educational institutions, the general conditions of school life, types of school and curriculum, continuation classes, special schools, the training, status, and superannuation of teachers, and finally the financing of the system. There

are one or two sections, like that on the feeding of necessitous children, which are matters of debate, where readers, conscious of the legal difficulties, may be disinclined to accept the safe statements of the department's Principal Staff Officer; but even they will recognize that such statements were inevitable in a booklet published for information and not to settle legal points. It would have added to the value of the booklet if there had

been given some simple statistical facts; for example, regarding the number of the pupils in the different types of schools and higher institutions, and the main disbursements from the Education fund; and an account of the teachers' professional organization would have been a gracious recognition of the distinctive status of the profession in Scotland.

with success cannot be regarded as a plaything of faddists and theorists.

THE

Crowth of
Universities.

HE recent celebrations of the University of Leeds have served to emphasize the extraordinary development in the university system in this country in modern times, and the modest and tentative way in which some of our universities have come into being. While eight of the ten English Universities have been founded within the last hundred years, and more than half of these within the last fifty years, the significance of this movement has not yet been fully realized. These celebrations, however, have served a good purpose in bringing some interesting facts into prominence. Leeds, itself, is a good illustration of the modest beginnings of a university, and the story of its rise and development should be an inspiration to many others. Fifty years ago the "Yorkshire College of Science" began its work in a rented building with a staff of three teachers and a total of twenty-four students. At present the University has a staff of 268 teachers and a total of 1,678 day students. Founded to supply instruction in those the usual course. Parents finding that | sciences which are applicable to the manufactures, en

IN various Scottish counties during the last year or

two, question has been raised as to the right of parents to claim free secondary education for their children under the Act of 1918. The Free Secondary difficulty has recently cropped up in Moray, and the argument has followed

Education in

Scotland.

the only accessible secondary school is a fee-paying school, insist that the Act requires that in each education area there shall be adequate provision of all forms of primary, intermediate, and secondary education in day schools without payment of fees. Sooner or later the Authority replies by offering a remission of the fees of the individual pupil, in terms of a section providing for those unable to afford higher education. To this the parents' reply that they do not want a remission of fees which they could quite well pay, but the free secondary education which is their statutory right. Then there is talk of an appeal to the Court of Session for a legal interpretation, followed by the Authority discovering that it does not wish to take this extreme course and compromising with the parents. While it is never possible to say what view the law courts would take on a matter of this kind, there is a growing opinion that the intention of the 1918 Act was to make secondary education as free as primary education, and that the permission to impose fees in certain schools was contingent on the prior provision of free education for all pupils with the requisite capacity, irrespective of ability or inability to pay. It is to be hoped that the Moray case will be the last of these rather unworthy disputes.

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gineering, mining, and agriculture of the County of
York; also in such arts and languages as are cognate
to the foregoing purpose," the "Yorkshire College of
Science was the nucleus from which the University
has gradually evolved. Its history during the period of
this development-involving a change of name to that
of "Yorkshire College" in 1878, admission as a con-
stituent college into the Victoria University in 1887,
and the grant of a Royal Charter twenty-one years ago
is a record of progressive development of which any
university may be proud.

IT so happens that the Jubilee of the Yorkshire College
of Science and the Coming of Age of the University
of Leeds fall in the same year, and accordingly the
occasion has been seized upon to cele-
brate these events. In some respects
the functions have been on traditional
lines; in others a more modern note

Celebrations

at Leeds University.

has been struck. The reception of delegates was perhaps the outstanding event of the week. No fewer than ninety-six universities and colleges, historical and humanistic societies and institutions, and scientific societies and institutions in the British Empire sent representatives bearing congratulatory addresses. In

WE published in November a note on Family Allow- presenting these, several of the distinguished speakers

Allowances.

ances supplementing a basic wage, referring particularly to Miss Rathbone's advocacy of this system and suggesting that it appeared to be Family specially applicable to the teaching profession. Miss Rathbone has since expounded her views in an important letter published in The Times Educational Supplement. She thinks that sex rivalry underlies the chief difficulties of the Burnham Committees. It cannot be good either for education or for men or women teachers that local authorities should be tempted to prefer women because of their cheapness or to reserve the plums of the profession for men because of their supposed greater needs." She thinks a peaceful solution might be found by the introduction of a system of substantial family allowances for children and possibly for wives. We agree with Miss Rathbone that there is a case for official inquiry. A system which has been worked in so many countries

dwelt upon the imperial and international aspect of the occasion. Thirteen honorary degrees were conferred, ten of the recipients, it is interesting to note, being present or past holders of office in the University. Lord Balfour, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Sir Michael Sadler, formerly Vice-Chancellor of the Leeds University, and County Alderman P. R. Jackson may be mentioned. The popularity of the former Vice-Chancellor was very evident both at the degree ceremony and the meeting at which he was presented with his portrait. The remaining celebrations largely took the form of receptions of various local bodies, including the Yorkshire members of the teaching profession, followed by inspection of the exhibits and demonstrations in various departments of the University. Saturday was an "open day" for the general public. Leeds and its University have good reason to congratulate themselves on the success of this historic occasion.

F

Matriculation

By J. WICKHAM MURRAY, M.A., Secretary, Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions.

OR the success of all schemes of education statesmen and administrators must rely, ultimately, upon the teacher, since he is the final executive officer. The recent agitations of secondary and technical school teachers for reform in the matter of university matriculation may, therefore, be regarded as sufficient evidence that the existing conditions are far from satisfactory. Complaints come from two apparently different angles, and, in their total, present substantial proof that present conditions are rightly challenged as being unfair and uneducational.

At a meeting of the Council of the Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters, in January, 1923, the following resolution was passed:

That this Association is of opinion that serious harm is being done to a large number of pupils in secondary schools by the high pressure involved in the preparation for the School Certificate (Matriculation) Examination under existing conditions."

As a result of the resolution, the Education Committee of the Association framed a questionnaire to elicit information on points of fact. The questionnaire was answered by 238 schools, and demonstrated that there exists a considerable degree of discontent with the present conditions governing the General School and Matriculation Examination. The Committee agreed, naturally, that the matriculation year possesses a special character and that it ought to be the year of intensive study. At the same time the result of the questionnaire showed clearly that "there is a point when a stimulus may become a goad and pressure mere driving." Such goading and over-pressure is obviously inimical to education. The Association claims that it leads merely to cramming the necessary facts which the examination will demand, is unfair to the boy of moderate abilities (often the "late-developer "-the most precious of educational material), hinders the proper development of the sports side of the school, and, forgetting the rational function of teaching processes, tends to subordinate them to a vicious competition for results.

These, briefly, are the charges made by teachers in secondary schools, and while they may appear to be different from the charges of unfair operation made by another branch of the teaching profession, they are, fundamentally, the same.

In 1922 a sub-committee of the three Associations concerned with technical education (Association of Technical Institutions, Association of Principals of Technical Institutions, and Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions) dealt with the matter after the receipt of complaints, and resolutions were passed, of which the following may be quoted as an example :

That the time is now ripe for the provision of an alternative examination qualifying for matriculation more particularly designed for part-time students in technical institutions and allowing entrance to university courses leading to degrees."

The case upon which those engaged in technical education base their contention is, roughly, as follows: Students in technical schools are drawn from all types of schools (private, elementary, secondary, junior technical, central, &c.). In the main their continued education has to be of a part-time nature, since, during the day, they are engaged in their trades or professions. In the courses they follow, however, many of them reach a high standard of efficiency by hard work, no little self-sacrifice, and an almost religious earnestness. Few have had the opportunity of matriculating before entering industry or commerce and, although as a result of their continued work in technical schools they may obtain national or local scholarships which enable them to proceed to the higher work of a university,

they are unable to secure the final degree (though they pass the same examinations as do the students who obtain the degrees) because they have not satisfied the preliminary entrance conditions. Hence, for successfully performing degree work they receive only a diploma and, to quote from a paper read to the A.T.I., " the metal may be the same, but, the stamp being different, the currency and exchange value are different." Some method is needed, therefore, to enable all bona fide students although of differing primary and secondary education-to be provided with equal opportunity to reach the final academic reward.

The hardness of the case was recognized by the northern universities at the end of 1923, when, after meetings of representatives of the three technical associations and of the Joint Matriculation Board, a scheme for an alternative matriculation examination (for candidates of not less than 19 years of age who fulfilled certain conditions of service in industry and commerce, and attendance at technical institutions) was drawn up. The scheme by no means removed all the difficulties; it is, however, a step in the right direction and a recognition of the fact that the existing forms of matriculation are not satisfactory to all types of student.

The problem, of course, is not an easy one. Associations of teachers would be the last to suggest an "easy" means of admission to degree courses, the last to support the case of pure technical efficiency, the last to lessen the high value of a degree, the last to ask for any change which would take away from the cultural side of university life. At the same time the meanings of matriculation," culture," and university atmosphere" are apt to be dulled by constant use: we are very prone to accept vague connotations without question.

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It is important, therefore, to realize at once that matriculation is not necessarily concerned with an examination in the usual sense of the word. The word matriculation means admission to membership (particularly of a college) by the entering of the name upon a register; briefly, it is to enter a university by being enrolled as a student

Students are enrolled as members of a university because of a twofold aim. Primarily, one assumes, they desire to pursue the higher studies which are fostered there. The successful completion of those studies is acknowledged by the award of a degree, which is generally regarded as a qualification to practise some profession.

But a degree is not the only end which is desired. University life, with its method of self-government, its aim of producing many-sided interests, ought to give to those who enjoy it that undefinable but unmistakable "culture" which stamps (or ought to stamp) the university man. And, in most cases, there can be no doubt that this stamp is, in some mystical way, carried out into the world, and the world recognizes it.

Thus it has almost become platitudinous to say that academic attainment matters but little compared with the benefits derived from university atmosphere"; and there could be no quarrel with any university authority which kept its standards of admission high in order that this cultural value might never be lessened. But those who desire reform in the matter of matriculation would, very rightly, like to examine the trend of this " culture of the universities, since in these days there is ample evidence to suggest that, within the walls of the universities themselves, there is a tendency in the direction of high specialization. It is not long ago since a writer in the magazine of a prominent university asked the pertinent (Continued on page 18)

"

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. PRESS

JUNIOR REGIONAL GEOGRAPHIES

By W. H. BARKER, B.Sc., F.R.G.S., and LEONARD BROOKS, M.A., F.R.G.S.

Suitable for Lower Forms in Secondary Schools.

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Containing new maps and new illustrations in line and half-tone, including aerial views.

General Editor: JAMES FAIRGRIEVE, M.A., F.R.G.S.

THE NEW REGIONAL GEOGRAPHIES

For Secondary and High Schools.

By LEONARD Brooks, M.A., F.R.G.S., formerly Geography Master at the William Ellis School and Lecturer in Historical

Geography at Birkbeck College.

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Europe including British Isles Europe excluding British Isles

2s. 6d.

1s. 6d.

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2s. 3d.

4s. 6d.

3s. 6d.

OUTLINES OF BRITISH HISTORY

By F. W. TICKNER, D.Lit., B.Sc. (Econ.).

This new text-book is eminently suitable for use in the Middle and Lower Forms of Secondary Schools, and in the Upper Classes of Central, Trade, and Continuation Schools. It presents the history of the British people as a story of continuous development. The book is well illustrated with pictures, maps, and plans.

The work will be published as a whole, and in two parts: Part I, the Beginnings to 1603; Part II, 1603 to Present Times. Now ReadyEach 3s. 6d.

HISTORICAL ATLAS

Prepared by Prof. WILLIAM R. SHEPHERD, of Columbia University, New York.

Containing 290 Maps and 94 pp. Index. New Edition. 18s. net.

A fine book for the History Library.

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF THE

BRITISH EMPIRE

By C. B. THURSTON, B.Sc.

An up-to-date well-written geography of the Empire.

New Edition. 5s.

INTELLIGENCE TESTING:

METHODS AND RESULTS

By RUDOLF PINTNER, Ph.D., Professor of Education in Teachers' College, Columbia University, U.S.A.

"The appeal of this book is not confined to the teacher: it extends far beyond the walls of the school. It should meet a response in all those who deal with human material or who wish to understand people before they try to benefit or to better them."-From an Introduction by Dr. P. B. BALLARD.

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EXAMINATION

PAPERS

A complete list of all the Examination Papers issued in connexion with the University of London, including Matriculation, General School, Higher School, Intermediate Arts, Intermediate Sciences, &c., will be forwarded on application.

Write for complete Educational Catalogue, and Pamphlet "Geography in the Modern School," post free.

LONDON: UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS, LTD., 17 Warwick Square, E.C. 4

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